Charles Ingalls's New Daughter
by kyolover16
Summary: Charles Ingalls finds a girl outside his house and decides to adopt her.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: I don't own Little House on the Prairie, it belongs to NBC and Michael Landon **

The sun was just coming up when Charles Ingalls walked out of his house and into the yard. He looked down and saw a girl lying facedown on the dirt. Carefully he went over to her, picked her up and carried her inside the house and laid her on his bed.

A few minutes later, Laura, Charles's second oldest daughter came down from the loft where she shared a bed with her sister Mary, she saw the girl on her father's bed and went over to him. "Who is this?" she asked as she watched her father gently stroke the girl's head.

"I don't know who she is. I just found her lying outside." Charles said as he continued to stroke the head. " I knew that I couldn't keep her lying there. I had to bring her in."

Laura nodded her head and slowly left the room, looking back at her father and the girl, tears were starting to form in her eyes. _I hope Pa won't start loving her more than he loves me._ she thought.

Meanwhile, Caroline Ingalls was at Olsen's Mercantile when Laura came in the store and ran into her mother's arms. "Laura, what on Earth are you doing?"

Laura bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears and vented her feelings of fear. In her calm, sweet voice Caroline told Laura that there's nothing to be afraid of, and that nothing could change the way Pa felt about her.

Laura let go of her mother and went back to the house to see if there was anything that she could do to help her Pa out.

Mrs. Olsen watched the two Ingalls and thought to herself, _Laura is going to have watch out because I think that she's going to have a little bit of competition at home._

Caroline just shook her head and smiled as Laura exited the mercantile. Meanwhile, Pa was at home taking care of the young girl he had found.

He looked when he heard the door open and saw that Laura was coming back. As she was about to go up the ladder he stopped her and said. "Laura, I need you to stay here and take care of the girl while I go and get Doctor Baker."

Laura nodded her head and sat down next to the girl as her father stood up, got his hat, and walked out of the house.

Laura felt guilty that she had ever been jealous of this girl, who was in such a bad condition. Quietly, she prayed that the Lord would heal her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy with college and other things. I hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

Charles ran to Doctor Baker's office, "Doc, I need you out at the house." He said as he came inside.

Doctor Baker stood up quickly "What's the problem this time, Charles? Is it Caroline or one of your girls?"

Charles shook his head and said "No. It's an unconscious girl that I found outside my house. I'm not sure how she got there or how long she's been laying there."

Doctor Baker ran out of his office with Charles following right behind him.

They ran back to Charles's house where they found Laura by the bed, holding the girl's hand.

Doctor Baker kneeled down next to the bed and said "Let me take your spot, Laura."

Laura moved aside and stood next to her father.

Charles looked down at her and pulled her into a hug. "She's going to be fine."

As Doctor Baker was working on her, the girl woke up and started to thrash around in her bed. "Where am I?"

Doctor Baker gently grabbed her shoulders until she stopped shaking "Take it easy. You were found outside unconscious, I'm just making sure that you don't have any injuries."

Charles then came and said. I'm glad to see that you are awake. What is your name?"

The girl looked at Charles and then at Doctor Baker and said "I don't know."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: Thanks for the followers and the reviews! Here is the next chapter.**

Doctor Baker and Charles looked at each other and then at the girl. "It's ok if you can't remember anything for now. Doctor Baker said.

The girl looked at Charles and said. "I bet you are going to throw back out into the cold aren't you?"

Charles shook his head and said. "No. You won't have to worry about that. You are going to be staying here for as long as you like."

The girl nodded her head and said "Thank you. I'd love to stay here as long as I can."

Charles and Doctor Baker decided then to let the girl get some rest. As soon as they went outside, Laura went to her Pa and asked. "Is she going to be staying here long, Pa?"

Charles couldn't believe what he just heard. He shook his head and said. "She is going to be staying here as long as she wants, Half-pint. She also can't remember anything. So I don't want you trying to get her to leave until she can remember who she is. Do I make myself clear?"

Laura nodded her head before she ran off towards the lake.

Charles sighed as he watched his daughter go. "I guess I was a little rough on her. But I didn't want her to think that she could get the girl to think that she wasn't going to be welcomed here." He said as Doctor Baker got into his buggy and started to head back to town.

Doctor Baker looked at Charles and said. "Everything will be fine, Charles. Let me know if you need me for anything." He said as he hit the reins on his horse's back.

Charles watched as the doctor left and then he went back inside and sat with the girl.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Laura waited for Charles to go to work at Hansen's Mill. As soon as she saw him leave, she went into the house and went and sat on the edge of the bed and watched the girl.

The girl slowly opened her eyes and when she saw Laura looking at her she stared straight at her. After the girl looked at Laura and said. "What do you want?"

Laura knew that what she was about to do was going to get her in a whole lot of trouble, but she also knew that if she didn't she might lose the attention from her father. "My father wanted me to tell you that he doesn't want you to stay with us anymore."

The girl looked at Laura with tears in her eyes as she said. "That can't be. Your father said a few minutes ago that I could stay here until I could remember who I was before your father found me."

Laura turned away and said "He lied to you."

The girl got out of bed, put on her coat and went outside. She got a few feet from the house, turned around and gave it one last look before she left the yard.

Mary was in the barn ands= watched as the girl left the yard. She went in the house and said to Laura. "Why is the girl leaving?"

Laura looked at her sister and said "She's leaving because Pa told me that he didn't want here to live with us anymore."

Mary went to her sister "Are you insane, Laura? That girl is not fit to leave yet. What made you think that you could tell her something like that?"

Just then Charles came home and went to the bedroom to check on the girl, when he saw that she wasn't there, he turned to Laura and asked. "Half-pint, where is our guest?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: I appreciate all of the reviews and all of follows and the favorites! I thank every one of you. **

Laura looked down at the ground and didn't say anything at all.

"Well?" Charles said after a few minutes of waiting for an answer.

Mary looked at her father and then at her sister "If you don't tell him what you did, I will."

Charles looked at his daughters and said "Why don't one of you tell me what happened?"

Laura looked at her father, but didn't say anything.

Charles turned to Mary and said "Why don't you tell me what happened today?"

Mary looked at Laura before she said. "She told the girl that you said that you told Laura to tell her that you didn't want her to stay with us anymore. So she left."

Charles looked at Laura and decided what he was going to do with her. He took a deep breath and said. "I think that it's time for you and me to take a trip out to the barn, young lady."

Laura gulped as her father led her out of the house and into the barn. "Pa, I'm sorry for doing that to her, but I didn't want for you to give her your full attention."

Charles looked at Laura and said "I accept your apology, but that doesn't change the fact that you disobeyed me and turned out an injured person. I thought I raised you better than that." He said as he took off his belt, but before he could start to punish his daughter, he heard a voice coming from the loft. He quickly climbed up the ladder and found the girl laying up there with tears running down her cheeks. He gently picked her and carried her down the ladder. He stopped in front of Laura and said "To make up for what you did, you are going to do extra chores around the house and I'm going to let you take care of this girl for as long as she stays here, instead of the spanking that I was going to give you."

Laura nodded her head and followed her father into the house and wishing that the girl was going to forgive her after she talked to her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When they got into the house, Charles put the girl down back on the bed. He then turned to Laura and said "I want you to go upstairs until it's time for dinner, because I'm still upset with you and haven't quite decided exactly what kind of extra chores that you are going to have to do."

Laura headed up the ladder, she was halfway up the stairs when she turned back to Charles and said. "Pa, I really am sorry about telling the girl that she was no longer welcome here."

Charles looked at his daughter and said. "I know you are. Now go upstairs, you can apologize to her in the morning."

"OK, Pa." Laura said as she turned back around and went up the ladder.

Caroline then came in and looked at her husband and instantly knew that something was wrong. She walked up to Charles and said. "What's wrong, Charles?"

Charles sighed and said "Laura told our guest that I said that she was no longer welcome in our house so she left. When I got home, Mary told me what Laura did. I took Laura out to the barn and I found our guest in there so I forgot all about giving Laura a spanking."

Caroline looked up at the loft and then said. "What are you going to make Laura do?"

Charles looked at his wife "I told her that she's going to have to take care of our guest and that she's going to do some extra chores around the house."

Caroline nodded and then got started on dinner.

Dinner was uneventful. Laura was just about to go up to the loft when Charles said "Aren't you forgetting to do something, Laura?"

Laura turned around and said "Can't I start doing my extra chores and stuff tomorrow, Pa?"

Charles looked at Caroline and then at Laura "Sure."

They then went to bed, but Laura wasn't sleeping she was trying to think of ways to get out of the extra that her Pa was going to give her in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Laura woke early and went outside and started in the chores that she knew that needed to be done before breakfast.

Charles woke up to the sound of the chickens squawking in the yard. He went outside to see what was making them act like they were. When he saw that Laura was working out in the yard he walked up to her. "What are you doing out here this early, Half-pint?" he asked as he took the pitchfork from her.

Laura looked up at her father and said "I wanted to get some chores done so I could get out of the chores that you are going to give me."

Charles looked at Laura and said "Just because you did those chores doesn't mean that I'm going to let you off that easily. What you did to that girl was the worst thing that you could have ever done. I haven't thought of everything that I'm going to have you do. But rest assured that the amount of it is going to be extensive because I'm very mad at you."

Laura looked down at the ground. "But nothing happened to her, Pa. She's fine."

"I know that she's fine, but it could be a whole lot worse. I don't think that you fully understand the seriousness of what you have done. Bend over." Charles said as he took of his belt again for the second time in a three-day span.

Laura took a step back from her father and said "Pa, please no."

Charles took the step towards her and grabbed her and put against a hay bale and started to spank her with the belt.

After what seemed like forever but it was really only a couple of minutes, Charles stopped and put his belt back on and then he hugged Laura and said. "I hated to do that, but I had to."

Laura held still in her father's arms and cried silently. They then went into the house and gad breakfast with the rest of the family.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Right after breakfast, Charles decided that it was time for Laura to start on her new chores.

As he started to write them down the girl came out and stood next to the chair that Charles was sitting. "What are you doing this for?" she asked as she saw how long the list was.

Charles looked at the girl for a few minutes before he went back to writing the list. "It's a list of chores for my daughter to do as punishment for the thing that she did to you."

The girl understood the reason why Laura had done what she did. "I can understand why your daughter did what she did."

Charles stopped writing and looked at the girl "What do you mean by that?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I mean if I had a father that found a complete stranger and started to give all of his attention to her instead of me, I probably would've done something almost exactly like she did."

Charles heard the door open and Laura was stood there with tears starting to form in her eyes listening to every word that was said between the girl and her father.

Laura ran over to the girl and hugged her. "I'm very sorry that I tried to get you to leave. I'd love it if you stayed her with us."

The girl hugged Laura back and said. "Are you sure that you don't mind if I stay here. I mean, what happens if your father decides to pay more attention to me?"

Laura looked at her father who smiled because his daughter was trying to make amends with the girl. "I won't do anything to hurt you again. I'm going to treat you like one of my sisters."

The two girls hugged andthen they walked outside to play and get acquainted with each other. As Charles watched them he knew that even though the girl couldn't remember anything about herself, he knew that he wanted her to become part of his family.


End file.
